An 'everyone hates me' day 17
by AnnKa
Summary: Who thought that now that Derek and Emily are together everything will work out nice and easy was wrong. Emily has an encounter with a young woman that makes her doubt everything she had started to believe in and accept as part of her new life. Only some talking with her dad and finally a long conversation with Derek might be able to bring some sense back into her mind. 3 parts
1. Chapter 1

Another part of the sequence of stories I'm posting. The stories can stand for themselves, but still belong all together.

Thanks to REIDFANATIC and lovelover7891 for Beta Reading and the great advice.

Criminal Minds is not mine.

An "everyone hates me" day

"I don't want to go."

Emily had stopped counting on how often she had heard that sentence in the past hour. While her daughter had jumped at the idea of spending a week with her grandparents, the thought hadn't made as good of an impression on her teenage son. Already juggling the girl's bag and toys, she grabbed her son's as well.

"Annie, car, now," she ordered, following the five year old towards the door.

"I'm not going."

Emily turned abruptly nearly loosing her balance from the heavy load she was caring.

"Mommy?" Her daughter's voice sounded again from outside.

"Get into the car sweetie, we'll be there in a minute," she called over her shoulder, before turning her attention back to the nearly fourteen year old.

"You mean YOU will be out there."

"Why do you have to start being such a teenager right now?" She sighed only half aware that she had actually spoken what she was thinking. Declan had been the best teenage son anyone could imagine. It had even scared her a little just how good he was with rules, and she was glad that he didn't get the opportunity of inheriting her rebellious traits - another great thing about adoption.

"Why do you start having secrets from me now?"

"I don't have secrets from you."

"Okay so then why are we going to Grandma's?"

"I need some time," she offered, knowing that she needed to give him some kind of an explanation.

"Some time for what?"

As their voices grew louder during the short exchange her silence now seemed a lot quieter than it would have in a normal conversation.

"Secrets," he spit the word at her, before adding. "Where is Derek?"

"On a case." At least that wasn't a lie.

"He hasn't called once."

"He talked to Annie earlier."

"But you barely spoke to him."

"Declan," she glared at him not at all in the mood for this conversation. She loved him and she didn't want to keep things from him, but if she started on this topic now she wouldn't be able to hold back her tears and that was the last thing she wanted her son to see. "Get in the car NOW."

With those words she threw his bag in his direction and left the house, mad at herself for letting the conversation go that far. Reaching the car, she put her daughter's things inside, before slamming the trunk door.

"Declan." She exclaimed angrily as there was still no sign of him. She slid into the driver's seat taking a deep breath. It wasn't like her to lose it in front of her children. That, in fact, was the reason why she wanted them out of the house.

"Mommy?"

"Are you buckled in sweetheart?" She glanced to the rear mirror, not trusting herself to turn around.

"Yes, is Declan not coming?"

"He is." She turned on the engine and finally the young boy came out of the house. She assumed that the door had been slammed, but at least he was coming. He clearly showed her what he thought by sitting in the back instead of the passenger seat.

When she reached her mother's house half an hour later, she had been able to cool down enough to keep quiet through the annoying procedure of identifying herself. Her mother greeted her with worry in her eyes and took over the toy bag Emily was carrying.

The younger woman glanced at her kids before heading to the next room, which would lead her into the wide back yard she always used as a refuge. By the time she reached her tree her eyes were blind with tears. The fight with Declan had done what she thought was impossible; it had made the day even worse. She was about to sink down against the tree, when she remembered the last time she had been at this place.

She stared at the tree, becoming even more irritated by it as the memory of their reunion swamped over her. Why did he have to be in every single one of her memories by now? She punched her fist against the tree, crying out the moment she hit the hard wood. She was pretty sure that the crunching sound hadn't been the trees injuries, but more likely her own hand.

"You are bringing the saying "head through the wall" to a new stance, pumpkin." She was startled to hear her father's voice.

"Why are you home?" Her voice was weak and her eyes were fixed on her fist. The torn skin slowly started to turn red. By the feeling, at least one of the knuckles was broken and she didn't dare to touch to find out if the feeling was correct.

"Well Elizabeth mentioned that my grandchildren would be here for the week. I missed too much time of my daughter's life to miss out on the grandchildren too." Her eyes were still fixed on her hand and slowly the pain started welling through her.

"You didn't even notice me in the living room and now you are breaking your hand. What is wrong?"

She could hear and feel him move closer as he peaked over her shoulder to inspect her hand as well.

"Everything's fine."

He laughed. She turned glaring at him, but seeing his worried face immediately softened her and she let herself fall into his arms.

"Daddy."

Howard tightened the embrace drawing his little girl closer to him.

"What did he do?" The question was quiet and she simply shook her head against his shoulder thinking back to her encounter a couple of hours ago.

"_Hi I'm looking for Derek?" The girl, probably in her early twenties stretched to look around Emily, causing her to close the door further, stepping outside to finish the conversation._

"_He is not home. If you want to leave your name, I let him know you were here." She offered a small smile on her lips._

"_Well it is kind of important. Maybe I can wait until he gets back."_

"_He won't be back for a couple of days." Emily's forehead wrinkled as she gave the woman a closer look. "If you tell me what this is about, I'll give him a call later and have him call you."_

"_Are you his wife or something?"_

"_Yes. Why?" The woman kept quiet gazing towards her car. Emily took a sharp breath as she recognized the car seat holding a tiny baby._

"I don't even know if it's really his and if it is he didn't cheat…" Emily trailed off, burying her head against her father's neck.

"But it hurts." He concluded quietly. He could feel her nod and carefully brushed over her hair.

"I should have seen this coming. I knew that he had always been a womanizer. There could be thousands of little Derek's out there." She weakly added.

"I doubt that."

"Dad," she angrily pushed away, regretting it immediately as pain shot through her hand.

"Pumpkin, he isn't the kind of man to be that careless."

"It can still happen."

He smiled seeing no need of further arguing that point.

"It doesn't even bother me that he did sleep with that girl. Even if we had been dating before Doyle - which we hadn't - for all he knew at that point I was dead."

"So what bothers you?"

"That child; do you know what children do? They bind people. Dec and Annie, they bound us together. But that child is going to keep his mother in the picture. She will be there for everything, Christmas, birthdays, everything."

"Pumpkin don't you think you are a little harsh? Derek accepted Declan into his life, didn't he?"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Don't you think that boy will always remind him of what his father did to you? Derek found you that night, didn't he? You basically died in his arms and now he is playing dad for your 'murderer's' son." Howard's voice was quiet, trying to get through to his daughter with common sense.

"That's not the same." Her voice was weak, fighting a cause her heart was already losing to her mind.

"Don't you think Doyle is as much there for every occasion than that woman would be?"

"He doesn't have to face him."

"He has to live with the memories, sleep through the nightmares, awake from your nightmares."

She slowly shook her head.

"You two are talking about marriage. Don't you think you should at least give him a chance to tell his side of the story, before you jump to conclusions?"

"I guess."

The older man nodded satisfied, before adding: "Good, now let me give you a ride to the hospital."

Her little girl was busy playing upstairs when they entered the house again. While Howard arranged himself a driver for later, Emily stood in the hallway, not sure what to do with herself. The hand hurt like heck by now and she would have loved to kick herself for that hit against the tree. After waiting for what seemed forever, her father came back, handing her a washcloth and icepack to put on her hand.

They were about to leave the house when she got a glimpse at a familiar back of a head. She sighed, before stopping and turning towards the study room.

"I'll be there in a minute dad." She let her father know, before she leaned against the door to open it further so she could enter the room. Declan had himself trained well and didn't even turn at her entrance. Looking back at her own teenage years she could even see his point. She had hated it when her parents had kept her out of all the business, but then expected her to act like an adult.

She sat on the edge of the seat opposite from him. Not sure what to say she studied him for a moment. The features of his father seemed more pronounced every day. Suddenly Howards words seemed to be a little more logical. He had a point in saying that Ian would always be present in their family.

"I'm sorry Declan." She smiled as he looked up, just to remember that he was ignoring her and looking away again. "I do recognize that you are old enough to understand. I will tell you what was going on, but right now, I need to talk to Derek first. I'm sorry that I have to have you spend the week here; I certainly know that there are more exciting places for a teenager than this house." She sighed remembering her own misery in this house.

"As soon as Derek comes home from his case and we have talked, I will get you back home. I just need some time for myself to sort out some thoughts I have. And there might be some fighting, which is the reason why I wanted the two of you out of the house, especially Annie. But it will be okay. I promise you that."

By now he had looked up. She could see in his eyes that they were okay and stood up.

"Give me a hug." She offered her good hand pulling him up and right into her arms.

"What happened to your hand?" She could hear the worry in his voice.

"Nothing that cannot be fixed, believe me this is nothing." She tightened her hug for a moment.

"I love you Declan. You're the best son anyone could ask for."

"I love you too Mom." She couldn't help herself but smile when he used what had become her favorite word out of the mouths of either of her kids. They stood embracing for a little longer, before she finally decided that her hand really needed a doctor to work on it. She let go, picking the icepack up.

"Sophie gives you ice-cream whenever your grandmother is not around. Just make sure Annie is not overdoing it." She said with a wink, referring to their old maid, who had already worked for the family when Emily had been his age.


	2. Chapter 2

Another part of the sequence of stories I'm posting. The stories can stand for themselves, but still belong all together.

Thanks to REIDFANATIC and lovelover7891 for Beta Reading and the great advice.

Criminal Minds is not mine.

Fighting and Making up

It was late at night when she woke up from the movement next to her. She could feel his strong arms embracing her. Immediately the memories came back up and she couldn't help herself from slipping out of his arms and turning to him. Her rather odd action was displayed in his confused expression. His face got slightly annoyed when she also turned on the light.

"Whatever it is, I'm too tired."

She sat up leaning against the backboard of their bed. She knew that he was tired, since he had been gone for days, but she needed to know now.

"What happened to your hand?" Just now, he noticed the thick bandage around her hand. She grimaced fingering the material.

"Encounter with a tree."

"You hit a tree?" He wasn't sure if he should laugh or be worried.

"I needed to release my frustration somehow and yelling at you was not an available option at the time."

If he hadn't been confused before, then he certainly was now. When he had left for the case six days ago, they had been perfectly fine and now she was talking about wanting to yell at him. The problem was he had no idea what she was talking about at all.

"Okay and why would you need to yell at me?" When her gaze went away from him to the window, he decided to sit up and forget about sleeping for now, "Emily?"

"Two days ago, you had just called to tell me that you would be gone for even longer than what we were planning; and this girl showed up." She swallowed as the memory came back up. She was not freaking out anymore, but she was far from accepting any addition to her family.

"What girl?" He finally asked when she didn't speak up again.

"Crystal." She looked over to see his reaction, but his face didn't show any at all. Therefore, it was probably a simple one-night stand for him that might possibly change their lives. "She left her number so you could call. She had a relatively young baby in her car."

He stared at her blankly trying to figure out where she was going with this. He wasn't even sure who that Crystal person was she was talking about.

"I'm sorry Emily, but I still don't understand what you are talking about." He tried to keep his voice calm, as he didn't want to start a fight in the middle of the night, which would wake the kids up. She glanced over at him, obviously fighting her emotions.

"She also said her lawyer was going to call you for child support issues, since you apparently don't want to talk to her." Her voice cracked towards the end. She had left out that part when talking to her father. No matter how right Howard had been when it came to his acceptance of her children, she wasn't sure if she was willing to make the same step.

"You are kidding me, right?" If he hadn't been before, then he was now wide awake, earning himself a glare for the unsatisfying comment. But at least he could finally think of a Crystal, but that fact made him even madder, as he knew already that he couldn't be the baby's father.

"Do I look like I'm kidding?" Emily snapped back at him, slowly losing the little bit of self-control she had gained over the issue. "Do you really think I would make up this story just for the fun of it?" When he reached for her hand in an attempt to calm her, she jumped out of the bed, walking towards the window to stare through the half open blinds.

"Can we keep it down so the kids don't wake up?" He suggested quietly, trying to keep his own anger down.

"They aren't here."

"What do you mean?"

"I wanted to figure this out without them having to listen to it."

"You seriously think that this child could be mine?" He wasn't even trying to hide his anger anymore, snapping back at her just as she had done a moment before. He was more than surprised when she didn't yell back at him but simply sank on the small bench next to the window.

"I don't know what to think." This statement was very quiet and it took him a moment to put together her words. By then tears started streaming down her cheeks and she fought herself to not lose the fight against the sobs as well.

"I know that if it's your child I have no right to be angry, because we weren't even close to dating, or maybe I was even still dead at that point." She lost the fight and sobbed. "And this sounds horrible to act this way against an infant, but I don't know if I can handle a kid that is only yours."

He moved to the edge of the bed setting his feet on the floor. He wasn't sure if she would accept a hug quite yet, so he decided to put up his story first.

"A few weeks before you came back, we had a really rough case. When we came back, I couldn't just go to sleep so I spend a few hours looking over your case files, hoping to find something that would lead me to Doyle. Finally my head wasn't processing anything anymore and I ended up in a bar, meeting Crystal and, yes I did sleep with her, but I used protection." Silence spread between them. Emily was processing her thoughts while Derek just stared at her trying to read her expression.

"So it could be yours?" She finally managed to choke.

"I highly doubt it, but the timing would fit." He admitted. Almost immediately the tears on her face seemed to double. He wasn't sure what else to say, since he didn't even know what she expected from him now. They sat there quietly for the longest time before she surprised him again by moving from her bench back to the bed and leaning against him. Although surprised, his arms found their way around her, drawing her closer and letting her cry.

"I'm sorry that you and the kids got in the middle of this." He finally offered as her tears started to dry.

"You didn't plan on it." She answered weakly, although she still wasn't master over her own feelings again.

"I will call her first thing tomorrow morning and we will figure things out." She nodded tiredly against his shoulder giving up on the fight she had been trying to put up.

"I'm sorry." She looked up at him earning yet another confused glance. "For pushing you away earlier," she added. It had suddenly come back to her how she had reacted when he first tried to embrace her and go to sleep. His hand moved up touching her cheek and began to caress it. At the same time he forced her to not break the eye contact they had established. When she was finally able to look away he had gotten his answer.

"Why are you so scared?"

"I don't want to lose you." She confessed, not looking up at him.

"That won't happen." He sighed when he saw the tears reappearing on her cheeks. "Princess look at me."

She took a moment but finally lifted her head far enough to meet his eyes.

"I love YOU and I'm going to marry you. Nothing is going to change that as long as you want me too. We might have to make a few adjustments to our family plans, but you, Declan and Annie are the family I want in my life."

"But they are not even related to you." He stared at her, finally putting the picture together Emily had painted in her head.

"We already talked about me adopting Annie and I'm considering doing the same with Declan, if he wants me to."

"Adopting is not the same."

"Sure they won't look like me, but Declan already acts a whole lot like you. I don't think it makes a difference. It doesn't for me."

"But wouldn't a child you are actually related to mean more to you?" She asked, though she didn't dare look at him.

"Would a baby from the two of us be more important to you than Dec or Annie?" He answered her question with a question. She looked up at him, shaking her head.

"Of course not."

"Exactly, I can't think of any children that could mean more to me than the boy who arranged our first date and the little girl that brought us back together."

A small smile came to her lips. "I just don't know if I can handle it."

"Baby there is no reason for jealousy. We decided to not try for a baby for various reasons, but that doesn't mean that I love you any less and I certainly would not break us up because some unimportant, one-night-stand resulted in a child. I will do my part for the baby, but my family is here – with you and the kids."

"Just give me some time to get used to the thought."

"You can have all night." He responded letting himself fall back on the bed, dragging her with him. She had forgotten how tired he had to be after being gone on a case for almost a week. It was very rare that the agents got to sleep and if they did, they tended to avoid it.

Emily got up early the next morning and snuck out of the room. As it was only five o'clock, she went on her running route, bringing home some milk she had run out of the day before. The house was quiet, which was a rare occasion with a five year old living in it. She smiled at the thought of her daughter. In the kitchen she then quickly prepared coffee, eggs and toast to carry upstairs. She felt like she had to make up for something after all the trouble she had put Derek through the night before.

She was balancing the tray carefully in order to avoid the coffee overflowing on her way upstairs, which was not too easy with her bandaged hand. When she heard his voice she was almost disappointed but at the same time she was wondering who he was talking to. As she came closer she could hear pieces of what he was saying. She sighed as she realized that he must be talking to Crystal. He had promised to call her first thing in the morning, but she personally just wanted to forget about it.

Carefully balancing breakfast she pushed the door open. She was welcomed by his smile and his eyes curiously wandered to what she was carrying.

"Well I got to go. I will call the lab after breakfast and you better do the same." He watched as Emily sat down next to him. She didn't look very happy with him and he suppressed a sigh. "No Crystal I don't have time to talk this through again. If you haven't called the lab by noon on Tuesday I will get a court order and now I would like to have breakfast with my wife." He listened again and then shut the cellphone with a "bye."

"Good morning." He smiled at her as if the phone call had never happened.

"Wife?" She was looking at him slightly amused.

"Well there is this saying that things that are not sealed can be broken off, so I just want to make it clear that there is nothing to be broken off between us."

Emily smiled, moving closer to him.

"Are you feeling better today?" He asked while wrapping one arm around her and reaching for the coffee with the other.

"I still don't think I will be able to handle it, if that is your child, but I'm working on it." He smiled before kissing her.

"I think we should postpone this." He grabbed his breakfast and carefully balanced it off the bed, before turning back towards her.

"Now I'm definitely awake enough to show you how much I love you, especially with the children out of the house. We should use that time wisely." He winked at her, before drawing her closer, an action she willingly accepted.


	3. Chapter 3

Another part of the sequence of stories I'm posting. The stories can stand for themselves, but still belong all together.

Sorry this is a little later as usually, and thanks to all the reviews.

Thanks to REIDFANATIC and lovelover7891 for Beta Reading and the great advice.

Criminal Minds is not mine.

His mother's son

It had been a few weeks since Derek had arranged for himself to be tested as the supposed father of Crystal's baby. Although he had tried his best on assuring Emily that they would be okay either way, the tension hadn't quite left them yet. This morning he had finally found the letter with the news in the mail. Both had been relieved as the letter read that he was not the father to this child and to Derek's horror, his fiancée started crying once more, but for a happy reason now. He was relieved not to be the father of any other child than the two he had at home because as of right now they were trouble enough. While Annie had just enjoyed her stay at grandma and grandpa's her older brother hadn't spoken a word to Derek since then. Of course some small talk about pick-ups from school and other schedule arrangements had been discussed, but nothing else was said. He had no clue what he had done and how he was supposed to fix it, but he knew that Emily had noticed it and it upset her.

He had been working on files when Em and Annie had left for their weekly grocery shopping and therefore stayed behind with Declan. They had done a pretty good job with staying out of each other's way, until the boy turned on the TV in the living room, knowing full well that Derek was still working on his files as they were spread all over the couch.

"Can you at least turn it down?" He asked, getting annoyed by the younger one's behavior and was having a hard time hiding it.

"You can just go to the office."

"How about you watch TV in your room?"

Declan glared at him, "The channel is only down here."

The two stared at each other for a moment before Derek decided to move. "Just tell me what your problem is, son."

"I'm not your son." Suddenly it was very quiet while Declan's words still hung in the room. "And you are my problem. I thought you would make her happy, but all you do is make her cry. She even broke her hand because of you, but you just act as if nothing happened."

Derek still stared at the spot where the boy had stood before storming out of the room, when his phone started to ring. His boss had never had the best timing, but today was about the worst. But finally he answered and left a few minutes later to get to Quantico.

"Wasn't it your weekend off?" Emily balanced her phone between shoulder and ear while she navigated her daughter and the grocery bags to the house.

"_It's local so I should be home whenever we have time for sleep." _

"Hotch really needs more of a life." She raised an eyebrow when he didn't chuckled like she had intended him to do. "Are you okay?"

"_I guess I get why Haley left him. It's ridiculous to have a family and this job."_

"And I understand, I have been there, remember? And I'm not planning on leaving you."

"_You sure?"_

Emily stopped unpacking a bag and grabbed her phone. "Why are we even talking about this?"

"_I would understand; I mean I hurt you a lot already with Strauss and then the whole Crystal story. I would understand if you had second thoughts."_

"What the heck are you talking about? I'm happy."

"_You broke your hand because of me."_

"And that was my decision. You didn't force me to ram my hand into that tree and, just for the record, it wasn't broken." She saw out of the corner of her eye that her son had walked in the room and stopped dead as soon as he realized what she was talking about.

"_I just want you to be happy."_

"I am happy and I will be even happier when you start working this case so you can come back home."

They ended their phone call and Emily directed her attention towards her son. "And why exactly are you looking at me like I'm a ghost?"

"Was that Derek?"

"Yes, they have a case."

"Did he say something?"

Emily examined her son, "About what?"

"I don't know." He drew back his question and turned to leave the room.

"Declan, what happened?" She had noticed the tension between the two over the past weeks, but had decided to leave them to figure it out by themselves.

"He didn't want me to watch TV in the living room, because he was working."

Emily stared at him, not sure why that was a problem.

"I got mad, because he could have gone to the office, and I guess I said some pretty mean things."

"Like what?" The woman slowly became suspicious about what was going on with her fiancé.

"That he is not my father and that he only makes you cry."

She took a sharp breath in, while she looked at her son. That definitely explained the weird phone conversation she had just had. What she didn't understand was what was behind Declan's remarks.

"Honey, he makes me happier than I ever was before. Yes we fight, but every couple fights. Yes I cry sometimes, but everyone does that. It's supposed to be a healthy way of dealing with things rather than holding them in."

The teen stared at her, unsure of what to say. His anger had diffused and now he wasn't sure if he should feel upset or just stupid.

"What about that baby?" She had told him about the whole thing before getting him back home. She felt like keeping secrets from him would be stupid after everything he had been through.

"We got the results today. It's not his." Emily almost felt sorry for him as his face fell and his whole defense evaporated.

"So you are still getting married?"

She nodded softly taking a few steps towards him. "Declan it is really sweet that you are worried about me and that you want me to be happy, but you need to understand that good and bad things just happen. Yes I cry, and you really shouldn't have to see that, but that doesn't mean that life doesn't go on. I love Derek with all my heart and he loves me too."

They agreed on giving it a rest until Derek got back. To her surprise that happened the next afternoon. She had been working in the yard with Annie when he came back, inviting her to the team night. She had, at first, declined because of the lack of babysitter but then he reminded her that Declan was old enough to take care of himself and his sister for a few hours. He had then disappeared inside mentioning that he needed to get some things straight.

"I'm sorry." Derek had barely made his way into the boy's room when the words already came over Declan's lips.

"It's okay, but I think we need to talk about a few things."

"Like what?"

"Why were you so mad? I get it, you are very protective of your mom, but that is not the reason why you were so mad at me."

Declan stared at him, before grinning: "You are worse than mom. We really need a no profiling outside of the job rule in this house."

Derek chuckled as he realized his mistake. "I'll think about it, but first answer my question."

"Mom told me about that baby and I just didn't want more siblings."

The man didn't say anything, as he knew that this was only half of the story.

"I didn't want you to like that baby more than Annie. You are her dad and people like their real kids better." Declan looked to his hands, intertwining them.

"I would never like any kid better than another. Besides it is really hard to rank higher on my favorite children list than Annie and you are." He knew that Declan had only been talking about his sister, but he wouldn't be bothered so much, if he wasn't worried about his own status. "I already told your mother this, Declan: you, Annie and Emily are the most important people in my life, my family. Nothing is going to change that. Even if the kid would have been mine, it wouldn't change the fact that the three of you are my family."

"Really?"

Derek smiled as he saw the same insecurity that he had seen in his fiancée a few weeks ago.

"You are a lot like your mom, you know that?"

"Really?"

Derek nodded with a small smile before changing the topic. "So are we good?"

Declan nodded slowly, "Just don't do it again."

"Promise," Derek chuckled over the seriousness. "I have one more question for you buddy."

"What?"

"Actually two." Now it was his turn to get serious. "Are you okay with me marrying your mom?"

Declan looked at him with wide eyes, "Aren't you already engaged?"

"Well yeah, but I still would like to hear what you think."

"She loves you, so yes you probably should marry her." Now it was Derek's turn to stare at him. He had simply not expected that kind of an answer from the boy. "What was the second question?"

The man's thoughts stopped dead trying to order them, before he could answer. "Well I was wondering if you would be my best man."

"Me?"

"Yeah, I was trying to find a way to get you involved, but you are a little old for ring boy and not girly enough for flower girl."

"But wouldn't someone of your team want to be best man?" Declan stared at him with wide suspicious eyes.

"They will be okay and I think you are the best choice."

The blonde boy wrinkled his nose thinking more as he pondered the offer, leaving Derek wondering what he was thinking about.

"Okay."

The man breathed out with a sigh of relief. He had been worried about his reaction and he knew that the answer basically was his invitation into the family. Before he could say anything further they heard a light tap on the door and Emily's head popped into the room.

"We need to leave."

"Right, give me a minute." He could see her roll her eyes, while he waited for her to close the door again. He then turned back to her son.

"Don't tell her yet. I want it to be a surprise."

"Surprises don't work well between you two." Declan looked at him skeptically.

"She will know by the time we get home tonight."

"That works."


End file.
